Authorities said a 37-year-old woman who worked as a caretaker had died in the latest attack, which took place at around 9 a.m. in Leszczydol-Nowiny, northeast of Warsaw
International News via Reuters:
A 15-year-old former pupil killed one person and injured two others at a Polish primary school on Thursday, police said, the day after a 19-year-old wounded 10 people including himself at another school.
Authorities said a 37-year-old woman who worked as a caretaker had died in the latest attack, which took place at around 9 a.m. in Leszczydol-Nowiny, northeast of Warsaw.
Head teacher Krzysztof Ochmanski said he had heard a scream and run into the corridor.
“He wounded me with the blade of a rather long knife – he had three knives on him – and hit me with the handle,” he told the public broadcaster Polskie Radio RDC. “By then, I had managed to restrain him.”
Police told the private broadcaster TVN24 that another teacher had also been injured trying to restrain the attacker.
The Interior Ministry said no further lives were in danger.
“The attacker was a former pupil of this primary school and is currently a student at a vocational school,” a spokeswoman said. “At this moment, we do not know the motives.”
A Reuters reporter saw an air ambulance flying away from the school, where a small crowd had gathered. The father of one child, waiting outside the school, said pupils had not yet been allowed to leave, but were safe.
Footage on the state news channel TVP Info showed what appeared to be the attacker being handcuffed and put into a police van.
NUMBER OF TEENAGE ATTACKERS ON THE RISE
Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an emergency meeting amid deepening concern about violence among teenagers.
Inspector Katarzyna Nowak, director of communications for national police, said serious offenders were becoming younger across Europe.
“Over the past few months in Poland, we have seen arrests of teenagers who were preparing to carry out attacks … So, this is indeed a problem we face, and one we must acknowledge,” she told TVP Info.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said that, in a separate incident in Sierpc in north-central Poland on Wednesday, police had detained a 17-year-old who had mentioned plans to do “something dangerous” on school grounds.
“Data recovered from electronic devices revealed online searches regarding how to orchestrate such a violent event,” Kierwinski said. Police found two knives in his possession.
On Wednesday, 10 people were injured in a knife attack at a school in Ostroleka in northeastern Poland . The teenage suspect was detained soon after.
Reporting by Kuba Stezycki and Kacper Pempel in Leszczydol-Nowiny, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Pawel Florkiewicz, Alicja Surdy in Warsaw, writing by Alan Charlish; editing by Gareth Jones and Kevin Liffey
